AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2014

NEWS SHEET

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS GENERAL SERVICE CONFERENCE OF IRELAND

The News Sheet is intended as an aid to SERVICE throughout the

fellowship in Ireland.

Any suggestions as to form and content will be especially welcome.

A Look at Irish A.A. History.

In July of 1946, a 37 year old man from Ballina, Co Mayo

writes to A.A. in New York asking for help with his own

Alcoholism. He has a desire to conquer this curse as he puts

it himself. The Central Office secretary sends him some

literature and informs him that a Group has been started in

London, England. He is given contact information...

Mrs Dorothy Hopkinson Evans

68 Comeragh Road

London

W14

England.

Dorothy was the first known contact for A.A. in the UK. By

her own admission she was not a member of the fellowship

but had potential. The 31st March 1947 is the first recorded

meeting of A.A. in England.

In November of 1946 a closed meeting of A.A. is held in

Dublin. This is the first meeting of A.A. in Europe.

Census

There have been three main Census’s carried

out in Ireland in relation to our fellowship. In

2009 there was a count of fellowship

numbers which included information such as

sex, age and lengths of sobriety. There was a

57% return of forms to GSO from the A.A.

Group’s. When these forms were collated it

gave us a figure of 6,461 members attending

meetings .

By simple extrapolation it could be estimated

that there were 11,537 member’s of A.A. in

2009.

In 1993 a Census was abandoned as returns

of information were inadequate in terms of

ascertaining any practical data.

The Census’s that have been carried out form

part of our Archives in Dublin.

Irish Fellowship Grows By

220% Over 29 Year Period.

NEWS SHEET P AGE 2

What is the General Service Office?? What is its Purpose??

Article 17 of our General Service Handbook for AA in Ireland

tells us that the primary objectives of the General Service

Office (GSO) are:

Communication

Service

Information

Provision of Literature

.

Let’s take the heading ‘SERVICE’ and see how the GSO

provides service to the Fellowship and those interested in

AA……

GSO responds to a range of calls and emails on a daily basis

from 12th Step calls (12th Step calls are always treated as a

priority), to AA meeting requests home and abroad, to help for

family members, to public information speaker requests, to

general enquires from the Fellowship and the public and

more….a full breakdown is provided in the Board Report

which is included with the March Conference minutes each

year.

The office provides the relevant administrative services related

to the News Sheet, Road Back, Conference Minutes,

Financial Statements and any other publication relevant to the

Fellowship.

We process Group Information Sheets received through the

Structure and update the AA database of groups accordingly.

The AA website and App is also updated with those groups

that choose to have their information displayed on the website.

The official AA website is maintained by the General Service

Office which includes AA meetings, meeting co-ordinates and

approved AA events.

We provide administrative services to the General Service

Board of AA and the Board Secretary. It is the General Service

Board who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the

General Service Office and for ensuring that The General

Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous in Ireland, a Com-

pany Limited by Guarantee and not having a Share Capital,

operate in accordance with the Companies Act 1963. “The

objects for which the Company is established are to help

alcoholics to achieve and maintain sobriety and, with a view

there to: to act as custodian of the Twelve Steps and the

Twelve Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous…” extract from

page 17 Memo & Articles of Association). Copies of this

booklet are available from GSO.

The Company was incorporated in 1973, issued with charity

status in 1983 and registered for VAT in 2006.

Let’s take the heading ‘INFORMATION’ and see how the

GSO provides information to the Fellowship and those

interested in AA……

The area of ‘information’ has already been touched on in the

previous sections. Information is provided by means of

telephone, post, email, website, News Sheets, Road Back, and

Conference Minutes.

Technology nowadays allows the General Service Office to

respond to requests more effectively and efficiently than ever

before and that can’t be a bad thing!!!!

The General Service Office also houses the official Archives

for AA in Ireland. A host of information on AA going back to

its early years is available in our Archives for members to

view, you simply make an appointment through the office and

we will ensure that a member is available to show you around!

Let’s take the heading ‘PROVISION OF LITERATURE’

and see how the GSO ensures that AA literature is avail-

able to the Fellowship and those interested in AA……

GSO is responsible for keeping a level of AA Conference

approved literature for groups. Most of the literature we stock

is available to the public with the exception of the AA

Directories.

We process literature orders on a daily basis for individuals

and groups; however, the General Service Office does not

process literature orders outside Ireland. Items that are only

published in Ireland can be purchased from other countries.

The General Service Office keeps a regular check on stock and

when necessary places orders with AA World Services, AA

Great Britain, printers in Ireland and also In-House publishing

ie., the Service Handbook, Treasurer’s Notebook etc. These In

-House booklets are designed and produced by the General

Service Office. We have stock takes at least every quarter.

We process AA Event literature packs for approved, Mini-

Conventions, Days of Gratitude and the annual All-Ireland

Convention.

The office is open to AA members and the public, our

reception area is open during office hours (see below). GSO

has three full-time staff, Barbara Counihan, Noreen Daly and

Bridget O Sullivan who have a combined service of 45 years

in GSO. Their aim is to ensure that the all the services listed

above are brought to the Fellowship in an effective and

efficient manner.

Our reception area is open to AA members and members

of the public. The office is open Monday to Friday, 9.30am

to 5.00pm and stays open through lunch. The office is

situated at Unit 2, Block C, Santry Business Park, Swords

Road, Dublin 9.

Each Intergroup respectively, for

the 1980 Census, was responsible

to collate information on it’s

Group’s.

NEWS SHEET P AGE 3

Intergroup Census Forms

sent to Groups

Census Forms

Ret’d to GSO

Male Female Total number

of Members

2 0 0 9

Leinster 188 54% 1548 751 2299

Ulster 202 63% 1208 511 1719

Munster 211 49% 1059 481 1537

Connaught 137 62% 619 287 906

Totals 738 56% 4431 2030 6461

1 9 8 8

Leinster 208 100% 1977 597 2574

Ulster 143 96% 1555 353 1908

Munster 144 97% 1425 356 1781

Connaught 71 94% 467 146 613

Totals 566 97% 5473 1467 6940

1 9 8 0

Leinster 1170 401 1571

Ulster 978 190 1168

Munster 76 378 61 439

333 84 417 Connaught

Totals 100% 2859 736 3596

For Example 76 Group forms were

returned to Munster Intergroup.

A.A GROUP(G)

G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G

It is suggested that each Group send two representatives to Area (GSR’S)

GSR GSR GSR GSR GSR GSR GSR GSR

Area Area Area Area Area Area Area Area

Four members represent Area as Intergroup delegates; There are four INTERGROUPS (Provincial)

Connaught Munster Leinster Ulster

Each Intergroup/Area is represented by four delegates (Conference Delegates) at CONFERENCE.

General Service Conference

4 Intergroup Secretaries, 16 Conference Delegates, 7 Trustees, 1 Board Secretary

2 World Service Delegates

General Service Board

7 Trustees (4 Alcoholic / 3 Non Alcoholic)

“The views and opinions expressed in the News Sheet are not necessarily those of the Fellowship as a whole”

NEWS SHEET P AGE 4

Conventions Ireland

Clare Area

Convention

October 10th-

12th

The Auburn Lodge Hotel, Gort Road, Ennis, Co Clare.

Donegal Area

Convention

October 17th-

19th

Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny,Co Donegal.

Kerry Area

Convention

November 7th-

9th

The Brandon Hotel, Tralee, Co Kerry.

Mayo Area November

28th-30th

Hotel Ballina, Foxford Road, Ballina, Co Mayo.

Theme: Happy, Joyous and Free.

Limerick Area February 5th-

8th, 2015.

The Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick City.

Conventions Abroad

9th International

Convention, Malta.

October 24th-

26th

Seashells Resort at Suncrest-Qawra, Malta

25th Costa Del Sol

Annual Convention

November

28th-30th

Beatriz Palace Hotel & Spa, Fuengirola, Malaga, Spain.

THEME...Back To Basics.

6th Annual

International Conv.,

Lanzarote.

January 23rd-

25th, 2015.

Barcelo Resort Hotel, Costa Teguise, Lanzarote, Canary Islands,

Spain.

26th North Sea

Convention

January 30th-

Feb 1st, 2015.

Vayamundo—DeKinhoom & Ravelingen, Zeedijk 290-330, 840

Oosende, Belgium.